True Grease: Duke Joins Butter Cow

Des Moines - They're both American icons. They both have huge legions of fans. They're both dead.

And now, John Wayne and Elvis have something else in common - being immortalized in butter at the Iowa State Fair.

A creamy likeness of the Duke, standing next to a hitching post, will appear alongside the traditional Butter Cow when the 11-day fair opens Thursday in Des Moines.

Norma "Duffy" Lyon, who has turned butter into works of art for more than 40 years, sculpted Elvis in 1997, just after she had a stroke.

"If Elvis turned out and I'd just had a stroke, then John Wayne should be pretty easy," said Lyon, who lives in Tama, Iowa.

Lyon said she isn't a big John Wayne fan. But Wayne, the movie star who was born in Winterset, Iowa, topped the list of what people wanted to see Lyon sculpt out of butter.

Lyon's sculpture of the Duke coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Birthplace of John Wayne museum in Winterset, which helped Lyon find photographs as guides for her project.

Museum Director Vickie Polk said she can't wait to see Lyon's finished product.

"The people she sculpts just seem like they're going to start talking to you."

 

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